Service system

ABSTRACT

Multiple service servers can store identification tags, which identify each user, after associating the identification tags with the identification tags of other users; and can also store identification data, which uniquely identifies users across multiple service servers, after associating the identification data with an encryption key for each identification datum. A management server device stores as identification data the user address data encrypted by means of an encryption key that has been generated for each identification datum. A gateway server device receives the identification tags from a first service server, receives the other identification tags associated with the first identification tags, receives the encryption keys associated with the other identification tags, and obtains the encrypted data from the management server. The gateway server device then decodes the encrypted information, and commands delivery that uses the obtained address data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser.No. 13/274,483 filed on Oct. 17, 2011 which is a U.S. continuationapplication filed under 35 USC 111(a) claiming benefit under 35 USC 120and 365(c) of PCT application JP2009/057704, filed on Apr. 16, 2009, theentire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is related to an information processing in which aservers are linked and provide a merchandise delivery service.

2. Description of the Related Art

Merchandise sales services are widely used among the many internetservices. A user of merchandise sales services on the internet selectsmerchandises using a web browser, inputs his/her address and name andmakes payments using credit cards etc. Then, a provider of merchandisesales service delivers merchandise to a specified delivery address.Almost all providers of merchandise sales services do not providecommunication services between a plurality of users using themerchandise purchased by each user.

On the other hand, there are also internet services which providecommunication services between a plurality of users. Electronic mail isthe most well know of these services. Electronic mail is a service whichprovides a means of communication between acquaintances using anelectronic mail address as an identification tag for uniquely specifyinga user on the internet. In addition, in recent years, many services areappearing which provide a means of communication between users in a webservice using an identification tag for uniquely identifying a userwithin each web service. SNS (Social Network Service), chat, blogs etcare examples of these services (ref. U.S. Pat. No. 7,069,308).

An acquaintance list function is provided in an internet service whichprovides such a communication means between users for each user tomanage acquaintances in the service. For example, electronic mail clientsoftware, web electronic mail, SNS, chat, blogs etc have a function formanaging acquaintances.

Generally, entire acquaintance relationships within internet serviceswhich provide a means of communication between users are referred to associal graphs. This is because when each user is express as a point(node), it is possible to represent each user's list as a line (edge)which connects pairs of different nodes. That is, these relationshipsare called social graphs meaning human relationship graphs because it ispossible to display entire acquaintance relationships within internetservices as a graph.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Given this type of background, there are ideas to promote the use ofmerchandise sales services by using a social graph held by an internetservice which provides communication between acquaintances inmerchandise sales internet services. In particular, in merchandise salesservice, if an acquaintance list managed by another internet service isused by a user to send a merchandise card as gift to an acquaintance,there are significant merits to both the user and merchandise salesprovider. The merit enjoyed by a user is convenience. If a user uses anacquaintance list in each internet service when purchasing and sendinggifts, then it is possible to simplify management of an acquaintancelist and sending address information for gifts. In addition, the meritenjoyed by the merchandise sales providers is being able to promote giftpurchases.

However, using a social graph of another service which providescommunication between acquaintances in merchandise sales internetservices, that is, for more than user information services, is rarelyrealized. There are two reasons for this as follows.

The first reason is a reason for confidentiality of personalinformation. For example, a provider of electronic mail servicesgenerally can not provide an acquaintance list of each user to anotherservice provider in view of confidentiality of personal information.

The second reason is a reason in view of business. For providers of SNS,chat, blog business etc a social graph is the driving force behindencouraging use of services and securing users. Therefore, providingmerchandise sales services to others service providers may lead to areduction is use of ones own services and a loss of users to competingproviders, which may result in business risk. In addition, althoughmerchandise sales providers and users of other services social graphscan enjoy the above described benefits using this method, there is noparticular merit for the service provider providing the social graph.

In an attempt to remedy this situation, a server, a system, aninformation terminal and a network related to the invention of thepresent application provides the merit for being able to solve the abovedescribed problem while maintaining the independence of merchandisesales services and network services which provide a social graph when auser of merchandise sales internet services uses an acquaintance list ofother internet services. Furthermore, with the server, system, theinformation terminal and the network related to the invention of thepresent application, it is also possible to provide clear merits tointernet service providers which provide social graphs which is a meritthat could not be enjoyed in conventional methods.

As a first aspect of the present invention, a service system isdisclosed for delivering merchandise which includes a plurality ofservice servers, a merchandise delivery server device, a managementserver device, and a gateway server device which can communicate betweenthe plurality of service servers, the merchandise delivery server deviceand the management server device, wherein: each service server iscapable of associating an identification tag which identifies the userwithin the service server with an identification tag of another userwithin the service server and storing the identification tag whichidentifies the user and the identification tag of another user, andfurther is capable of associating an encryption key with identificationinformation, the identification information uniquely identifying a userbetween the plurality of service servers and storing the encryption keywith the identification information; the management device includes astorage device for storing a table which stores an identificationinformation of one user in a first column and encrypted information in asecond column, said encrypted information being obtained by encryptingan address of the user identified by the identification informationstored in the first column with the encryption key stored in one of theplurality of service servers, the encryption key being associated withthe identification information of the user stored in the first column;the gateway server device includes a first receiving part which receivesfirst identification tag from a first service server of the plurality ofservice servers; a second receiving part which receives identificationtags of another users associated with an identification tag foridentifying the user of the first identification tag received by thefirst receiving part in any one of the plurality of service servers; athird receiving part which receives a command for selecting anidentification tag among the identification tags received by the secondreceiving part; a fourth receiving part which receives theidentification tag and an encryption key if the identification tag andencryption key are associated with the identification tag selected bythe command and stored in any one of the plurality of service servers; afifth receiving part which receives encrypted information associatedwith the identification tag received by the fourth receiving part andstored in the management server device from the management serverdevice; and the merchandise delivery server device includes a deliverycommand part which commands a merchandise delivery with addressinformation obtained by decrypting the encrypted information received bythe fifth receiving part of the gateway server device with theencryption key received by the fourth receiving part of the gatewayserver device.

As a second aspect of the present invention, a management server deviceis disclosed which is capable of communicating with a plurality ofservice servers, each of the plurality of service servers being capableof associating an identification tag which identifies the user withinthe service server with an identification tag of another user within theservice server and storing the identification tag which identifies theuser and the identification tag of another user, and further beingcapable of associating an encryption key for identification information,said each identification information uniquely identifying a user betweenthe plurality of service servers and storing the encryption key with theidentification information; comprising: a storage device which stores anidentification information of one user in a first column and encryptedinformation in a second column, said encrypted information beingobtained by encrypting an address of the user identified by theidentification information stored in the first column with theencryption key stored in one of the plurality of service servers, theencryption key being associated with the identification information ofthe user stored in the first column.

As a third aspect of the present invention, the management server deviceaccording to the second aspect is disclosed, wherein the encryption keyis not stored.

As a fourth aspect of the present invention, the management serverdevice according to the second aspect is disclosed, wherein the serviceserver can associate and store an identification tag of another user ofthe service server with one identification tag.

As a fifth aspect of the present invention, a gateway server device isdisclosed which includes a first receiving part which receives a firstidentification tag from a first service server of a plurality of serviceservers, each of the plurality of service servers being capable ofassociating an identification tag which identifies the user within theservice server with an identification tag of another user within theservice server and storing the identification tag which identifies theuser and the identification tag of another user, and further beingcapable of associating an encryption key for identification information,said each identification information uniquely identifying a user betweenthe plurality of service servers and storing the encryption key with theidentification information; a second receiving part which receivesidentification tags of another users associated with an identificationtag for identifying the user of the first identification tag received bythe first receiving part in any one of the plurality of service servers;a third receiving part which receives a command for selecting anidentification tag from the identification tags received by the secondreceiving part; a fourth receiving part which receives theidentification tag and an encryption key if the identification tag andthe encryption key are associated with the identification tag selectedby the common and stored in any one of the plurality of service servers;and a fifth receiving part which receives encrypted informationgenerated using the encryption key associated and stored with theidentification tag received by the fourth receiving part.

As a sixth aspect of the present invention, the gateway server deviceaccording to the fifth aspect is disclosed further comprising: adecryption part which decrypts the received encryption information usingan encryption key associated with the selected identification tag; and afirst sending part which sends decrypted address information.

As a seventh aspect of the present invention, the gateway server deviceaccording to the fifth aspect is disclosed further comprising: a sixthreceiving part which receives address information via the service serverfrom a user identified by the selected identification tag if anencryption key is not associated or stored with the selectedidentification tag in the service server; an encryption part whichgenerates an encryption key and generates encryption information byencrypting a received address; second sending part which generatesidentification information for identifying a user identified by theselected identification tag and sending the identification informationand generated encryption key to the service server together with theselected identification tag; and a third second part which sends theidentification information and the encryption information to themanagement server device.

As an eighth aspect of the present invention, the gateway server deviceaccording to the fifth aspect is disclosed further comprising: a seventhreceiving part which receives information which represents thepossibility of receiving encryption information from the fifth receivingpart from a user identified by the selected identification tag.

As a ninth aspect of the present invention, the gateway server deviceaccording to the fifth aspect is disclosed further comprising: a fourthsending part which sends screen information for displaying a firstregion and a second region, the screen information displaying in thefirst region the identification tag received by the second receivingpart and the possibility of dragging to the second region; and an eighthsending part which sends a command for the third receiving part toreceive the identification tag dragged to the second region.

As a tenth aspect of the present invention, the gateway server deviceaccording to the ninth aspect is disclosed wherein the screeninformation can display a third region for displaying sales merchandiseinformation and is information for making dragging of the salesmerchandise information to a position at which the displayedidentification tag is dragged to in the second region, and furtherincludes a ninth sending part for sending the command for the thirdreceiving part to receive the dragged sales merchandise information.

As an eleventh aspect of the present invention, the gateway serverdevice according to the fifth aspect is disclosed further comprising: adeletion part which deleted received identification tag, encryption tagand encryption information if a communication session with the firstservice server is complete.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible fora user of a merchandise sales service to use an acquaintance list ofother internet services while maintaining independence of themerchandise sales service and network service which provides a socialgraph.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a merchandise sales(delivery) system using a network.

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an information terminal.

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a service server.

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a gateway server device.

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a management server device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a database used in theserver system.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary diagram of an identification tag table in whichan identification tag is associated with identification information.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary diagram of a table for associating anidentification tag with an identification tag of another person and atable for storing merchandise information.

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a database used in theserver system.

FIG. 10A is an exemplary diagram of a table for associating anidentification tag with an identification tag of another person and atable for storing merchandise information.

FIG. 10B is an exemplary diagram of a table in which an identificationtag is associated with an identification tag of another person.

FIG. 11A is an exemplary diagram of an identification tag table forassociating identification information and an encryption key with anidentification tag.

FIG. 11B is an exemplary diagram of a table in which an identificationtag of another person is associated with an identification tag.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a process in the gateway server device.

FIG. 13 is a diagram which shows that it is possible for the gatewayserver device to store a plurality of temporary tables.

FIG. 14 is an exemplary diagram of a screen displayed on an informationterminal using screen information.

FIG. 15 is an exemplary diagram of an authentication screen of a userusing the service server.

FIG. 16 is an exemplary diagram of a temporary table stored by thegateway server device.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a process which generates identificationinformation.

FIG. 18 is an exemplary diagram of a table stored in the managementserver device.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of a process in the gateway server device.

FIG. 20 is an exemplary diagram of a screen displayed on an informationterminal using screen information.

FIG. 21 is an exemplary diagram of a screen displayed on an informationterminal using screen information for specifying the user of a deliveryaddress.

FIG. 22 is an exemplary diagram of a temporary table stored by a gatewayserver.

FIG. 23 is an exemplary diagram of a screen displayed on an informationterminal using screen information for specifying the user of a deliveryaddress.

FIG. 24 is an exemplary diagram of a screen displayed on an informationterminal for specifying merchandise to be delivered.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart of a process for judging whether it is possibleto obtain address information of a user of a delivery address.

FIG. 26 is an exemplary diagram of a screen displayed on an informationterminal for asking permission to a user of a delivery address.

FIG. 27 is an exemplary diagram of a screen for a user of a deliveryaddress to input address information.

FIG. 28 is an exemplary diagram of a table for storing the price of agood to be delivered to a user of any service server.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The preferred embodiments for realizing the present invention areexplained below. Because the scope of the present invention is clearlydefined by the scope of the attached patent claims, the embodimentsshould not be interpreted in a limited manner but should be interpretedas merely aiming to exemplify the general principle of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a merchandise sales systemwhich uses a network, which shows an example of an embodiment of thepresent invention. A gateway web server 100 is connected to a server 150of merchandise sales service X, a server 160 of merchandise salesservice Y, a server 180 of network service Z, an encryption userinformation server 170, and a sending tag/card printing device 190 via anetwork 192. In addition, the gateway server 100 is connected aninformation terminal 110 of a user A and an information terminal 120 ofa user B via a network 191. The networks 191 and 192 may be differentnetworks or the same networks. Also, the network service Y and thenetwork service Z may be any network services as long as they areinternet services including electronic mails, SNSs, chats, blogs, etc.,which comprise social graphs.

Schematic structural diagrams of user A's information terminal and userB's information terminal are shown in FIG. 2. The information terminal110 of user A includes a sending and receiving means 111, a HTML(HyperText Markup Language) analysis means 112, a GUI (Graphical UserInterface) display means 113, and an input means 114. The informationterminal 120 of user B includes a sending and receiving means 121, aHTML analysis means 122, a GUI display means 123, and an input means124.

Schematic structural diagrams of the server 150 of merchandise salesservice X, the server 160 of network service Y, and the server 180 ofnetwork server Z are shown in FIG. 3. The server 150 (hereinafter calleda server X) of merchandise sales service X includes a sending andreceiving means 151, a user database 152 (hereinafter called a userdatabase X), an authentication means 153, a search means 154, a HTMLgeneration means 155, a message generation means 156, a storage means157, and a merchandise database 158. The server 160 (hereinafter calleda server Y) of network service Y includes a sending and receiving means161, a user database 162 (hereinafter called a user database Y), anauthentication means 163, a search means 164, an HTML generation means165, a message generation means 166, and a storage means 167. The server180 (hereinafter called a server Z) of network service Z includes asending and receiving means 181, a user database 182 (hereinafter calleda user database Z), an authentication means 183, a search means 184, anHTML generation means 185, a message generation means 186, and a storagemeans 187.

A schematic structural diagram of the gateway web server is shown inFIG. 4. The gateway web server 100 includes a sending and receivingmeans 101, an HTML generation means 102, a temporary storage means 103,a UID generation means 104, an encryption means 105, a decryption means103, a search means 107, and an encryption key generation means 108.

A schematic structural diagram of an encryption user information serveris shown in FIG. 5. The encryption user information server 170 includesa sending and receiving means 501, an encryption user information table502, a UID generation means 503, a search means 504 and a social graphhistory storage means 505.

Tables of the user database X 152 and the merchandise database 158 areshown in FIG. 6. The use database X includes an identification tag table601, a social graph table 602 and an authentication table 603. Anidentification tag for uniquely specifying each user of the merchandisesales server X is associated with attribute information of each user, auser unique identification tag (hereinafter called a UID) and anencryption key are stored in the identification tag table 601. Inaddition, an acquaintance relationship in the merchandise sales serviceX is stored in the social graph table 602. Information used forauthentication such as password is associated with an identification tagof each user and stored in the authentication table 603. In addition,the merchandise database 158 of server X includes a merchandise database611. Product numbers, images, attributes and prices are stored in themerchandise database 611.

An example of the identification tag table 601 of the present embodimentis shown in FIG. 7. The identification tag table 601 includes columnsfor each of an identification tag 710 for uniquely identifying each userin the merchandise sales service X, a nam 720 of each user as anattribute 1, a birthday 730 of each user as an attribute 2, a UID 740and an encryption keys 750. There may be any number of attributes ornone at all. The attribute information may include any information aslong as it can be associated with each user.

An example of the social graph table 602 and merchandise table 611 isshown in FIG. 8. For the merchandise sales service X, the social graphtable 602 includes two columns, an identification tag 810 for uniquelyspecifying each user, and an identification tag 820 of a user in anacquaintance relationship with each user. The merchandise table 611includes each column for merchandise numbers 850, images 860, attributes870 and prices 880. Here, number of attribute information can be anynumber. In addition, the merchandise table 611 may include columns otherthan those shown in FIG. 8.

Tables of the user database Y 162 and the user database Z 182 are shownin FIG. 9. The user database Y 162 includes an identification tag table901, a social graph table 902 and an authentication table 903. Anidentification tag for uniquely specifying each user of network Y,attribute information of each user, a UID and an encryption key areassociated and stored in the identification tag table 901. In addition,an acquaintance relationship within network service Z is stored in thesocial graph table 902. Furthermore, the user database Y 182 includes anidentification tag table 905, a social graph table 906 and anauthentication table 907. An identification tag for uniquely specifyingeach user of network Z, attribute information of each user, a UID and anencryption key are associated and stored in the identification tag table905. In addition, an acquaintance relationship within network service Yis stored in the social graph table 906.

An example of the identification tag table 901 is shown in FIG. 10A. Theidentification tag table 901 includes columns for each of anidentification tag 1010 for uniquely specifying each user in networkservice Y, a nickname 1020 of each user as an attribute 1, an age 1030of each user as an attribute 2, a UID 1040 and an encryption keys 1050.There may be any number of attributes or none at all. The attributeinformation may include any information as long as it can be associatedwith each user. In addition, an example of the social graph table 902 isshown in FIG. 10B. The social graph table 902 includes columns for anidentification tag 1060 for uniquely specifying each user in the networkservice Y, and an identification tag 1070 of a user which has anacquaintance relationship with each user. Furthermore, theauthentication table 903 stores authentication information such as apassword which is associated with an identification tag of each user.

An example of the identification tag table 905 is shown in FIG. 11. Theidentification tag table 905 includes columns for each of anidentification tag 1110 for uniquely specifying each user in the networkZ, a name 1120 of each user as an attribute 1, a UID 1130, and anencryption key 1140. There may be any number of attributes or none atall. The attribute information may include any information as long as itcan be associated with each user. In addition, an example of the socialgraph table 906 is shown in FIG. 11B. The social graph table 906includes columns for an identification tag 1150 for uniquely specifyingeach user in the network Z, and an identification tag 1160 of a user whohas an acquaintance relationship with each user. Furthermore, theauthentication table 907 stores authentication information such as apassword which is associated with an identification tag of each user.

Furthermore, an identification tag for uniquely specifying a user ineach service is always denoted in an IDst format in the presentspecification. Here, s represents the name of the web service whichuniquely identifies a user using this identification tag, and trepresents the user. For example, IDxa represents an identification tagof user A in the merchandise sales service X. Similarly, IDya representsan identification tag of user A in the network service Y. In this case,user A is a user of both merchandise sales service X and network serviceY. Actually, an identification tag of merchandise sales service X andnetwork service Y are both independent, and although there is no methodfor the server of merchandise sales service X or the server of networkservice Y detecting the fact that user A uses both merchandise salesservice X and network service Y, this type of denotation is used in thepresent specification for clarifying the details of the presentinvention. In addition, in the present specification, a merchandisenumber for uniquely specifying the type of merchandise is denoted in aMIDn format.

Next, a process whereby user A sends a piece of merchandise to anacquaintance in the merchandise sales service X using the server, theinformation terminals, the networks, and the system related to theinvention of the present application is explained using the flowchart inFIG. 12.

Now, user A uses merchandise sales service X via the informationterminal 110. At this time, an HTML code which is generated by the HTMLgeneration means 155 of the server in merchandise sales service X, andsent to the information terminal of user A via sending and receivingmeans 151 and network 192 and network 191, is analyzed by the HTMLanalysis means 112 and the result is displayed on the GUI display means113. Before this, user A sends an identification tag IDxa and a passwordin the merchandise sales service X from the information terminal 110 tothe server of the merchandise sales service X, and the authenticationmeans 153 authenticates access from the information terminal 110 of userA. The authentication method is not limited to a combination of anidentification tag and a password and it is sufficient that theauthentication means 153 can authenticate access from the informationterminal 110 of user A or access from user A him/herself. Furthermore,in the embodiments explained below, the user of merchandise salesservice X has an identification tag and server X authenticates user A,however, the merchandise sales service X does not have to issue anidentification tag for uniquely identifying each user.

Next, user A select a gift giving service for an acquaintance in anotherweb service, which is included in the merchandise sales service X (stepS1201). This is performed by user A by selecting, for example, a button,an image, or a character string, etc. for displaying “send a gift/letterto an acquaintance of another service” displayed on a screen ofmerchandise sales service X. The merchandise sales service X asdescribed above is provided by the server 150 of the server X, however,it is one part of the merchandise sales service X. A gift givingservice, which is one part of the merchandise sales service X, foracquaintance in another web service is provided by the gateway webserver 100. That is, when user A selects a gift giving service for anacquaintance in another web service using an input/output means on userA's information terminal, a request is sent to the server 150 of themerchandise sales service X via network 191 and 192, and the sending andreceiving means 151 redirects the request to the gateway web server. Atthis point, as session n of the gift giving service for an acquaintancein another web service begins (step S1202). Next, the sending andreceiving means 151 sends the identification tag IDxa and the name ofuser A to the gateway web server 100. In addition, in the case where auser unique identification tag (hereinafter called a UID) of user A andan encryption key exists, these are associated with IDxa and sent to thegateway web server (step S1203). This transmission may be performed inplain text mode or in encrypted mode. It is not sent to the server if itdoes not exist. Referring to FIG. 7, because a UID which corresponds toIDxa 711 does not exist in the UID column 740, it is not sent. Here, aUID is an identification tag for uniquely specifying each user across aplurality of servers. A UID will be explained in detail below. In thepresent description of the invention, the notation UIDm indicates theUID of a user M.

Next, the sending and receiving means 101 of the gateway web serverreceives this information and stores it in the temporary storage means103 (step S1204). The temporary storage means 103 is a means fortemporarily storing information for each session of the gift givingservice for an acquaintance in another web service and the informationis deleted after each session is completed. Generally, while the mainstorage means of a computer comprised from DRAM (Dynamic Random AccessMemory) is often used as a temporary storage means, the temporarystorage means can be realized by any device as long as the contents aredeleted after each session completed. An example of a temporary storagemeans is shown in FIG. 13.

A table is created for each session in the temporary storage means 103.The gateway web server can execute a plurality of sessions in parallel.As a result, as is shown in FIG. 13, an arbitrary number of tablesincluding zero exist in the temporary storage means 103 at any arbitrarymoment. Each table is stored in the temporary storage means 103 while asession is in operation but is deleted when the session is completed.Information which is received from the server of the merchandise salesservice X in step S1204 described above is stored in a table 1301 ofsession n in FIG. 13.

Next, the HTML generation means 102 of the gateway web server generatesHTML code which includes the name of user A, stored in the temporarystorage means 103 in step S1204 described above, and a selection ofservice names of external services, and the sending and receiving means101 sends the code to the information terminal of user A via the network191. This transmission may be performed in plain text mode or inencrypted mode. In the information terminal of user A, the sending andreceiving means 111 receives the code and after the code is analyzed bythe HTML analysis means 112, the image shown in FIG. 14 is displayed onthe GUI display means 113 (step S1205). In FIG. 14 a web browser window1400 is displayed on the GUI display device 113. The gift giving servicefor an acquaintance in another web service, within the merchandise salesservice X is displayed in this web browser window 1400. The gift givingservice is one part of the merchandise sales service X. The imagedisplayed in the web browser window 1400 includes two windows for a giftsending address list 1410 and an external service list 1420. At thispoint, the gift sending address list 1410 is empty.

The external service list window 1420 displayed in the web browser 1400is explained with reference to FIG. 14. An external service is a webservice used by user A such as an electronic mail service and a webservice other than the merchandise sales service X. In the example shownin FIG. 14, the external service list window 1420 includes threebuttons: a button 1421 for user A to send a piece of merchandise of themerchandise sales service X to an acquaintance in network service Y, abutton 1422 for user A to send a piece of merchandise of the merchandisesales service X to an acquaintance in web service W, and a button 1423for user A to send a piece of merchandise of the merchandise salesservice X to an acquaintance in network service Z. As is clear from FIG.7, FIG. 10, and FIG. 11, user A is also a user of network service Y andnetwork service Z as well as a user of the merchandise sales service X.

User A moves a cursor 1430 displayed on the GUI display means 113 viathe input/output means 114 of user A's information terminal, aligns thecursor with the button 1421 for sending a piece of merchandise of themerchandise sales service X to an acquaintance in network service Y andselects network service Y by pressing a button which is included in theinput/output means 114 (step S1206). Then, the sending and receivingmeans 111 of user A's information terminal sends an authenticationrequest of user A in network service Y to the gateway web server 100 viathe network 119. This transmission may be performed in plain text modeor in encrypted mode. Furthermore, the sending and receiving means 101of the gateway web server forwards the request after receiving it andsends it to the server 160 of the network service Y via the network 192.This transmission may be performed in plain text mode or in encryptedmode. Here, the screen of the web browser 1400 in the informationterminal of user A is redirected to the server 160 of the networkservice Y from the gateway web server 100 (step S1207). When the sendingand receiving means 161 of the network service Y receives theauthentication request described above, the HTML generation means 165generates an HTML code of an input screen for authenticating that theinformation terminal 110 of user A belongs to user A who holds theidentification tag IDya. The sending and receiving means 161 sends theHTML code to the information terminal 110 of user A via network 192 andnetwork 191. This transmission may be performed in plain text mode or inencrypted mode. This HTML code is sent to the HTML analysis means 112via the sending and receiving means 111 of user A, is analyzed and thendisplayed by the GUI display means 113 (step S1208).

FIG. 15 is an example of a screen displayed on the GUI display means 113on the information terminal of user A at this time. The authenticationscreen of the network service Y displayed on the web browser 1400includes an identification tag input column 1501, a password inputcolumn 1502 and an input completion button 1503. After user A inputs theidentification tag IDya of user A in the network service Y into the IDinput column 1501 and a password into the password input column 1502,user A moves the cursor 1430 to the position of the input completionbutton 1503 and makes a selection by pressing the button of input means114.

Here, the identification tag and the password of user A which is inputare sent to the server 160 of network service Y via the sending andreceiving means 111, the network 191 and network 192 together with anauthentication request (step S1209). This transmission may be performedin plain text mode or in encrypted mode. When the sending and receivingmeans 161 receives these, it sends them to the authentication means 163.The authentication means 163 searches the authentication table 903 inthe user database Y 152 for the received identification tag IDya whichis input as a search key and after obtaining password informationassociated with IDya detects whether it matches the password received instep S1209. The example shown here is explained using authentication viaan identification tag and a password. However, any authentication methodcan be used so long as the authentication request at step S1209 can beconfirmed to be from user A itself or from the terminal 110 of user A.

If a match of the password described as above is detected, the socialgraph 902 of the user database Y 162 is searched next using theauthenticated identification tag IDya of user A as a search key.Referring to FIG. 10B, IDya 1061 is searched. Next, the identificationtag table 901 is searched for identification tags IDyb 1071 and IDyd1072 associated with IDya 1061 as search keys. Referring to FIG. 10A,the identification tags IDyb 1012 and IDyd 1013 are detected. Next, thesending and receiving means 161 sends the identification tag IDya to thegateway web server 100 via the network 192. In addition, at the sametime, nicknames nikki 1022 and naam 1023 which are associated with theidentification tags IDyb and IDyd in the identification tag table 901described above are sent to the gateway web server 100. Similarly instep S1203, if a UID associated with IDya exists in the identificationtag table 901, this UID is associated with IDya and sent to the gatewayweb server 100 (step S1210). This transmission may be performed in plaintext mode or in encrypted mode.

Next, the sending and receiving means 101 of the gateway web serverreceives this information and stores it in a table of session n in thetemporary storage means 103 (step S1211). As already explained, thetemporary storage means 103 is a means for temporary storage for eachsession of a gift giving service to an acquaintance in another webservice and when each session is completed the information is deleted.

The table 1301 of this session n in the temporary storage means of thegateway web server is shown in FIG. 16 at the stage where step S1211 iscompleted. However, in the example shown in the present embodiment,because the UID of user A is not stored in the table 1301 of session n,the UIDa 1600 shown in FIG. 16 is left blank at this point and is in thestate as shown in FIG. 16 is at the step S1703 below. Here, in the casewhere the server of gateway web service obtains an UID of user in stepS1204, then the identification tag and name 1601 in the merchandisesales service X of user A are as shown in FIG. 16. Identification tagsIDyb 1614, IDyd 1615 which are associated with identification tag IDya1602 in the network service Y of user A and stored, and the nickname,the UID and the encryption key associated with each of theseidentification tags are the information received by the server of thenetwork service Y in step S1211.

In an example shown in the present embodiment, the UID of user A is notstored in the table 1301 of session n in step S1204 described above.Thus, next, the server of the gateway web service obtains of the UID ofuser A from the encryption user information server 170, and a processfor storing the fact that IDxa and IDya are the identification tags ofthe same user is explained with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 17.If the server of gateway web service obtains the UID of user A in stepS1204, the process proceeds to step 1901 in FIG. 19 without performingthe process in FIG. 17 (step S1212).

In the case where the UID of user A is not received in steps S1204 andS1211, first, user A sends an issue request of the UID corresponding toidentification tags IDxa 1601 and IDya 1602 to the encryption userinformation server 170 via network 192 (step S1701). This transmissionmay be performed in plain text mode or in encrypted mode. When thesending and receiving means 501 of the encryption user informationserver receives this, the UID generation means 503 searches theencryption user information table 502 and generates a new UID whichhasn't previously existed. Next, the sending and receiving means 501sends this new UID as the UID of the user A to the gateway web server100 via the network 192 (step S1702). This transmission may be performedin plain text mode or in encrypted mode. An example of the encryptionuser information table 502 included in encryption user informationserver 170 is shown in FIG. 18. The encryption user information table502 includes a UID column 1810, an encryption identification tag group1820, and an encryption address information column. In the step S1702described above, the UID generation means 503 generates a UID which isnot in the UID column 1810. The encryption identification tag groupcolumn 1810 and encryption address information column 1830 is explainedbelow.

The sending and receiving means 101 of the gateway web server receives anew UIDa, and the UIDa is stored in the UID column 1600, which is emptypreviously, in the table 1301 of the session n of the temporary storagemeans 103 (step S1703). Next, the encryption key generation means 108 ofthe gateway web server generates an encryption key for the UIDa, thatis, an encryption key Ka for user A (step S1704). Next, the sending andreceiving means 101 sends UIDa and Ka to the server 150 of themerchandise sales service X and the server 160 of the network service Yvia the network 192 (step S1705). In the server of the merchandise salesservice X, the sending and receiving means 151 receives the UIDa and Ka,and stores them in the identification tag table in database X (stepS1706). Referring to FIG. 7, UIDa is stored in the place 741 and Ka isstored in the place 751. Similarly, in the server of the network serviceY, the sending and receiving means 161 receives the UIDa and Ka, andstores them in the identification tag table 901 in database X. Referringto FIG. 10A, UIDa is stored in the place 1041 and Ka is stored in theplace 1051.

Next, the encryption means 105 encrypts, with the encryption key Kagenerated in step S1704 described above, IDxa 1601 stored in the table1301 of the session n of the temporary storage means and X which showsthat it is an identification tag of the merchandise sales service X, aswell as IDya 1602 and Y which shows it is an identification tag of themerchandise sales service Y (step S1707). Here, encrypted information isnotated as Eka (IDxa-X, IDya-Y). Next, sending and receiving means 101sends UIDa and Eka (IDxa-X, IDya-Y) to the encryption user informationserver 170 via the network 192. The sending and receiving means 501 ofthe encryption user information server receives this, adds it to a newrow in the encryption user information table 502 and associates UIDa andEka (IDxa-X, IDya-Y) and stores them (step S1708).

In the example of the present embodiment, before session n begins, UIDband encryption key Kb of user B are stored in the identification tagtable 601 of the server of merchandise sales service X and theidentification tag table 901 of the server of network service Y. This isa result of a face that user B used a gift giving service to anacquaintance in another web service in the merchandise sales service Xor network service Y before session n begins and a corresponding processup to step S1708 and a process equivalent to FIG. 17 are performed.Here, the process in FIG. 17 explained here is used not in session n butin sessions subsequent to session n, and is used when user A or anotheruser uses a gift giving service to an acquaintance in another webservice using a gateway web service.

Next, processes in the gift giving service of merchandise sales serviceX used by user A who uses the gateway web service 100 is explained withreference to the flowchart in FIG. 19. The screen of the web browser1400 of user A's information terminal is redirected to the server 100 ofthe gateway web service from the server 160 of the network service Y(step S1901). Next, the HTML generation means 102 generates HTML codewhich generates the screen in FIG. 20 from the table 1301 of the sessionn in the stated shown in FIG. 16, and sending and receiving means 101receives this and sends it to the information terminal 110 of user A vianetwork 192. This transmission may be performed in plain text mode or inencrypted mode. In the information terminal of user A, the sending andreceiving means 111 receives this and displays it in the web browser1400 of the GUI display means after analysis by the HTML analysis means112 (step S1902).

An example of the image displayed in the GUI display means 113 of userA's information terminal is shown in FIG. 20. An acquaintance listwindow 2020 of network service Y is displayed in the web browser 1400together with the acquaintance list window 1410 of service X alreadyexplained in FIG. 14. Nikki 2021 and naam 2022 are displayed in theacquaintance list window of network service Y. These show thatinformation in the table of session n in the temporary storage means ofthe gateway web server is received as HTML code. In FIG. 20, mark 2029shows that a displayed user is a user of the network service Y. As isclear from FIG. 16, nikki 2021 is the nickname of user B who holds theidentification tag IDyb of network service Y and naam 2022 is thenickname of user D who holds the identification tag IDyd of networkservice Y.

Next, user A moves the cursor 1430 displayed in GUI display means 113 byoperating the input means 114, aligns the cursor with the Add button2025, presses a button included in the input means 114 and selects theadd button 2025. In addition, instead of pressing the add button 2025,the user aligns the cursor 1430 with the displayed object 2021 showingnikki in web browser 1400, and while selecting by pressing a buttonincluded in the input means moves the cursor 1430 within theacquaintance list window 1410 of the merchandise sales service X,releases the selection, and this is similar when so called a drag anddrop is performed. This operation is where user A selects user B who isan acquaintance in the network Y as an address for sending a good usingthe merchandise sales service X.

Information that the add button 2025 has been pressed or that a drag anddrop has been performed is sent to the gateway web server 100 vianetwork 191 by the sending and receiving means 111. When the sending andreceiving means 101 receives this information, the HTML generation means102 generates a new HTML code for displaying a screen as shown in FIG.21. This new HTML code is sent to the information terminal of user A viathe sending and receiving means 101 and network 191. This transmissionmay be performed in plain text mode or in encrypted mode. When thesending and receiving means 111 receives this, the image shown in FIG.21 is displayed on the web browser 1400 of the GUI display means 113after analysis by the HTML analysis means 112 (step S1903).

In the screen shown in FIG. 21, an object 2111 which shows that user Bis in an acquaintance relationship in network service Y with user A andhas the nickname nikki in network service Y is newly added to theacquaintance list window 1410 of merchandise sales service X. Thecharacters “not selected” 2112 is displayed in the object 2111 whichrepresents user B. This means that the process in which user A specifiesa merchandise delivery address in step 1903 to user B in merchandisesales service X is completed but the merchandise to be sent is not yetselected. This does not have to be the characters “not selected” but canbe any display which means a state before a piece of merchandise isselected. In addition, in the example shown in FIG. 21, as a result ofthe operation in step S1903, the object 2021 which represents user Bshown in FIG. 20 is deleted from the acquaintance list window 2020 ofnetwork service Y in FIG. 21. However, the object does not have to bedeleted.

Here, in the case where a piece of merchandise is sent to anacquaintance in another web service in addition to user B who is anacquaintance in the network service Y via the merchandise sales service,the process returns to step S1206 described above. If this is not case,the process proceeds to step S1905 (step S1904).

Here, as an example illustrating the method of the present invention,suppose user A performs a process for sending a piece of merchandise inmerchandise sales service X to a user F in network service Z by theprocesses after step S1206 described above. Because the details of thisprocess are the same as to the user B up until this point, theexplanation of the details can be omitted. Referring to FIG. 11, in theuser database 182 of the server of network Z, user E and user F areacquaintances of user A in the network service Z. Therefore, in theprocess equivalent to step S1210, information in FIG. 11A is sent totable 1301 of session n of the temporary storage means 103 of the serverin gateway web server. The table 1301 of session n after the processequivalent to step S1211 is as shown in FIG. 22. When FIG. 16 and FIG.22 are compared, information of an acquaintance of user A in the networkservice Z is associated with the identification tag IDza and newlystored. Furthermore, as is clear from FIG. 11A, user F does not hold UID1133 and encryption key 1043 at the point of the process equivalent tostep S1210. In this case, after this, the equivalent processes from stepS1701 to step S1706 are performed, UIDf and Kf are stored in theidentification table 905 of the server of network service Z and thetable 1301 of session n in the gateway web server.

Furthermore, user A moves to a gift delivery address window by a processequivalent to the step S1903 described above. Then, an image as shown inFIG. 23 is displayed in the GUI display means 113 of the informationterminal of user A. When FIG. 21 and FIG. 23 are compared, the name KenHines 2311 of user F which is an acquaintance of user A in the networkservice Z is newly displayed by the process described above. In thisway, an acquaintance in various web services can be added to a giftdelivery address in the merchandise sales service X.

Again referring to FIG. 19, the processes after selection of amerchandise delivery address has finished is explained. When user A hasfinished selection of a merchandise delivery address by the processdescribed above, the process proceeds to step S1905. Next, the sendingand receiving means 101 of the gateway web server sends a request formerchandise data via network 192 to the server 150 of merchandise salesservice X. Next, the search means 154 of the server 150 of merchandisesales service X searches the merchandise database 158 and the searchresult, as shown in FIG. 8( b), including a merchandise number, animage, an attribute and price, is sent to the gateway web server 100 viathe sending and receiving means 151 and the network 191 (step S1905).This transmission may be performed in plain text mode or in encryptedmode. In the example of the present embodiment, suppose that informationincluding merchandise numbers MID1, MID2, MID3 and MID4 is sent to thegateway web server 100. The sending and receiving means of the gatewayweb server 100 which receives this information stores this informationin the table 1301 of session n in the temporary storage means.

Next, the HTML generation means 102 of the server of the gateway webservice generates a HTML code for displaying the image shown in FIG. 24,and the sending and receiving means 101 sends the HTML code to theinformation terminal 110 of user A via the network 191 (step S1906).This transmission may be performed in plain text mode or in encryptedmode. Next, the HTML analysis means 112 in the information terminal ofuser A analyzes the received HTML code in steps S1906 described aboveand the image shown in FIG. 24 is displayed on the GUI display means113.

Referring to FIG. 24, a merchandise list window 2420 is displayed aswell as a merchandise delivery address window 1410. Merchandiseinformation received in step S1906 described above is displayed in themerchandise list window. Next, user A aligns the cursor 1430 with theobject 2421 of the flower within the merchandise list window, and whileselecting by pressing a button included in the input means, moves thecursor 1430 to the object 2111 of user B within the merchandise deliveryaddress window 1410, and releases the selection, and a drag and dropoperation is performed (step S1907). User A moves the cursor 1430 usingthis input means 114 and after selecting the object 2111 of user B,selects the send button 2422 which is attached to the flower object,presses the button of the input means and the following processes aresimilarly performed. This process which is performed by user A meansthat user A sends flowers to user B who is an acquaintance in thenetwork service Y.

Next, the sending and receiving means of the gateway web server sends amessage sending request which includes the identification tag IDya ofuser A in the network service Y as the sender and the identification tagIDyb of user B in the network service Y as the receiver, to the server160 of the network service Y via network 192. In addition, at the sametime, UIB which is the UID of User B and Kb, and merchandise attributeinformation selected in step S1907 described above are sent to server160 of the network service Y (step S1908). All of this information issent from the table 1301 of session n in the temporary storage means103. In the present embodiment, subsequent examples are explained usingan example of sending prices amount the merchandise attributeinformation sent here, however, attribute information, which is senthere, is not limited to prices. Next, a message sending request whichincludes IDya and IDyb, UIDb, Kb and the prices which are merchandiseattribute information selected in step S1907, are stored by the storagemeans 167 of the server of network service Y (step S1909).

User A can also send a piece of merchandise to another merchandisedelivery address (step S1910). Here, suppose that user A sends a card touser F who is an acquaintance in the network service Z by the equivalentprocess as steps S1907 to S1909. Referring to FIG. 24, user A drags anddrops object 2423 of a card within the merchandise window 2420 to theobject 2311 of user F within the window of the merchandise deliveryaddress 1410 (equivalent to step S1907). Then, the gateway web serversends a message sending request which includes the identification tagIDza 2200 of user A in the network service Z as the sender, and theidentification tag IDzf of user F as the receiver to the server 180 ofnetwork service Z (equivalent to step S1908). Following this, thestorage means 187 of network service Z stores the message sendingrequest (equivalent to step S1909).

At the point where the processes described above are completed, the “notselected” display 2112 attached to the object of user B and the “notselected” display 2312 attached to the object of user F shown in FIG. 24are no longer displayed. A character string or an image which displaysthat the desire to receive by User B or user F, which is a merchandisedelivery address, is being confirmed is displayed instead of this “notselected” display.

With this process, when selection of a piece of merchandise for anacquaintance in a delivery address list is completed, the browser ofUser A is redirected to the server 150 of the merchandise sales server Xfrom the gateway web server 100 (step S1911). Furthermore, the table1301 in session n of the temporary storage means 103 in the gateway webserver is deleted and session n is terminated (step S1912).

Next, referring to the flowchart in FIG. 25, a process is explainedwhereby user B agrees to receive the merchandise from user A and theprovider of merchandise sales service X sends the merchandise to user B.After the process in step S1909 is performed, user B accesses the sever160 of the network service Y from the information terminal 120 of userB, and an HTML code which displays a screen for requesting a logininformation generated by the HTML generation means 165 of the server ofnetwork service Y is received via networks 191 and 192. User B sendshis/her identification tag and password in the network service Y to theserver 160 of network service Z via the networks 191 and 192. Theauthentication means 163 authenticates that these piece of informationis those of user B, or that it is sent from the information terminal 120of user B, and a login is granted to user B to the network service Y(step S2501).

Next, UIDb stored in step S1909, encryption key Kb, and the merchandiseattribute information selected in step S1907 described above are sent tothe gateway web server 100 via network 192 (step S2502). Thistransmission may be performed in plain text mode or in encrypted mode.Next, a table of session m in the temporary storage means 103 in theserver of gateway web service is created, and UIDb, Kb and themerchandise attribute information selected in step S1907 and receivedfrom the server of network service Y are stored (step S2503). Next, theHTML generation means 102 of the server of the gateway web servicegenerates a HTML code for displaying the image shown in FIG. 26. Thesending and receiving means 101 sends the HTML code to the informationterminal 120 of user B via the network 191 (step S2504).

Next, the web browser window 2600 is redirected to the serve of thegateway web service 100 by the server 160 of the network service Y (stepS2505). Next, after the sending and receiving means 121 in theinformation terminal of user B receives the HTML code, the HTML analysismeans 122 analyzes the code and the image shown in FIG. 26 is displayedby the GUI display means 123. Referring to FIG. 26, the GUI displaymeans 123 includes the web browser window 2600. The HTML code isdisplayed within the web browser window 2600. A message 2601 that user Ais attempting to send a user a piece of merchandise is displayed in theweb browser window 2600. Furthermore, a note to click URL display 2602in order to receive the piece of merchandise is displayed in the message2601. User B operates the input means 124 of the information terminal120, operates the cursor 2630 which is displayed in the GUI displaymeans, moves the cursor to the URL 2602, and makes a selection bypressing the button in the input means 124 (step S2506). Then, sendingand receiving means 111 sends a message to the gateway web server 100via that URL 2602 has been selected via the network 191.

Next, when the sending and receiving means 101 of the gateway web serverreceives this message, the HTML analysis means generation means 102generates a HTML code for displaying the image shown in FIG. 27. Next,the sending and receiving means sends this HTML code to the informationterminal 120 of user B via the network 191 (step S2507). The sending andreceiving means 121 of the information terminal of user B receives theHTML code and displays it on the GUI display means 123 after analysis bythe HTML analysis means 122.

An image such as that shown in FIG. 27 is displayed in the web browserwindow 2600 displayed in the GUI display means 123 of the informationterminal of user B. In the present embodiment, this image is displayedas a part of the network service 2700, however, in an example in otherembodiments, this image may be displayed as a part of the merchandisesales service X and may be displayed as a part of a different serviceoffered by management providers of the encryption user informationserver 170. Again referring to FIG. 27, a message 2701 for askingwhether user B is willing to accept the merchandise from user A isdisplayed in web browser window 2600. The message shown in FIG. 27 is anexample and any message may be displayed as long as it enquires thewillingness of the user to accept the merchandise. In addition, a nameinput section 2701 and address input section 2703 are displayed in theweb browser window 2600.

If user B operates the input means 124, moves the cursor 2630 to therefusal button 2712, and makes a selection by pressing a button of theinput means 124, it is determined that user B has refused to accept themerchandise from user A (step S2508). In this case, the process proceedsto step S2514 described below. If user B operates the input means 124,inputs his/her own name in the input section 2702 and his/her ownaddress in the input section 2703, and moves the cursor 2630 to theaccept button 2711, and makes a selection by pressing the button ofinput means 124, it is determined that user B accepts the merchandisefrom user A (step S2508). In this case, the process shifts to step S509.Furthermore, merchandise information such as the name and image of themerchandise which user A attempts to send to user B is displayed on thescreen shown in FIG. 27.

When the willingness of user B to accept a piece of merchandise fromuser A is expressed at the process explained in step S2507, the sendingand receiving means 121 of the information terminal of user B sends thename and address which user B inputs to the gateway web server 100 viathe network 191 (step S2509). Furthermore, the sending and receivingmeans 101 of the gateway web server associates, for example, informationwhich represents network service Y such as a character string Y, withprice which is attribute information of the merchandise selected in stepS1907, and sends to the user information server 170 via network 192. Thesending and receiving means 501 of the encryption user informationserver receives this information and stores it in the social graphhistory storage means 505 (step S2510). An example of a social graphhistory table in the social graph history storage means 505 is shown inFIG. 28. Information 2811 received in step S2510 for identifying a webservice, merchandise price 2811 which is attribute information of apiece of merchandise selected in step S1907, and a date 2821 on whichuser B accepts to receive a piece of merchandise from user A, areassociated and stored. Products sold in the merchandise sales service Xor the sender and receiver are not stored in the social graph historystorage table. In this point, the social graph history storage table isnot a history of merchandise sales. However, which social graph was usedon a web service to realize gift merchandise sales in the merchandisesales service X by the method of the present invention is stored in thesocial graph history storage table. Furthermore, referring to FIG. 5again, the social graph history storage means 505 exists in theencryption user information server 170 in the example shown in thepresent embodiment. However, the social graph history storage means mayalso exist outside of the encryption user information server 170. Forexample, another server may exist as the encryption user informationserver and this may be connected to the gateway web server via thenetwork 192. In this case, the social graph history table shown in FIG.28 is also created by the process in step S2510.

Next, the encryption means 105 of the gateway web server encrypts thename and address of user B received by the sending and receiving means101 from the information terminal of user B in step S2509 using theencryption key Kb stored in the table of session m. Here, encryptedinformation is notated as Ekb (Nameb, Addrb). Next, the sending andreceiving means 101 sends the address and the name, which are encrypted,to the encryption user information server 170 via network 192. Here,after Ekb (Nameb, Addrb) is received by the sending and receiving means501 of the encryption user information server, it is associated withUIDb and stored in the encryption user information table 502 (stepS2511). Referring to FIG. 18, Ekb (Nameb, Addrb) 1831 is stored in theencryption address information column of the encryption user table 502by this process.

Next, the sending and receiving means 101 of the gateway web serversends the address and name of user B stored in the temporary storagemeans 103 and table 1302 of session m to the delivery tag/card printingdevice 190 via network 192 (step S2512). Here, the management providerof merchandise sales service X sends the gift from user A to user Busing the printed delivery address (step S2513). Here, in the deliverytag/card printing device 190, the name and address of user B, which issent in step S2511, is not stored in a nonvolatile memory device such asa disk drive but deleted from the storage means when printing iscompleted (step S2514).

Next, the operational effects of the present invention are explained. Inthe method, the system, the server device and the information terminalsof the present invention, a network service provider which includes asocial graph does not provide an identification tag or acquaintancerelationship of its users to the merchandise sales server provider.However, a user of the merchandise sales service can use an acquaintancerelationship in another network service using the merchandise salesservice. In addition, the user of the merchandise sales service canuniformly use an acquaintance relationship which is spread out over manynetwork services. Furthermore, it is possible to store whichacquaintance relationship in which network service a trade which isrealized in the merchandise sales service has come from in theencryption user information server.

First, referring to FIG. 10 and FIG. 11, although the above describedmerit is realized, it can be easily understood that the server of thenetwork service Y does not include any identification tag or anyrelationship of other network service including the merchandise salesservice X and network service Z.

In addition, for example, suppose that the gateway web server 100 andthe encryption user information server 170 in the present embodiment aremanaged by a different provider to the provider of the merchandise salesservice X, network service Y and network service Z. At this time,referring to FIG. 18 for example, the identification tag group 1820 andencrypted address information in various network services associatedwith a UID are stored in the encryption identification tag server. Here,referring to FIG. 5, FIG. 7, FIG. 10A and FIG. 11A, a key for decryptingthe encrypted identification tag group does not exist in the encryptionidentification tag server, and a key necessary for decryption exists inthe network service Y or network service Z. Therefore, a provider of theencryption user information server can not obtain any information or anysocial graph of a user including an identification tag of the networkservice Y or network service Z. Similarly, referring to FIG. 16 and FIG.22 although user information of the merchandise sales service or networkservice is temporarily stored in the temporary storage means or eachsession in the gateway web server 100, it is not necessary to store orkeep this information in a nonvolatile storage means such as a diskdevice. As a result, a management provider of the gateway web serverdoes not need to hold a database which includes identification tags,social graphs or additional information of users of another serviceprovider such as the merchandise sales service X, network server Y ornetwork service Z. Despite this, it is possible to realize the serviceexplained in the present embodiment and both a server provider and usercan enjoy the benefits described above.

In addition, a table as shown in FIG. 28 is stored in the social graphhistory storage means 500 of the encryption user information server 170.Which acquaintance relationship provided by a network service was reliedon for the sales achieved in the merchandise sales server X is stored inthe column 2810 of this table. In addition, attributes such as the date2820 and price of the merchandise sold is associated with thisinformation and stored. This is not encrypted but saved as text.However, identification tags of users, social graph and attribute data,etc. of merchandise sales server X, network service Y, etc. are notincluded. However, it is possible to evaluate the contribution of eachnetwork service which provides a social graph to the sales in themerchandise sales service X by using the information stored in thistable. It is possible to pay each network service which provides asocial graph such as network service Y or network service Z according totheir contribution a proportion of the profit of the merchandise salesservice X based on the information in this table. In this way, it ispossible to form a motive for allowing a network service use of a socialgraph to the merchandise sales service which was impossible in aconventional server or system. This increases user convenience and theprofits of the merchandise sales service.

In addition, in the present embodiment of the present invention amanagement server device stores an encrypted identification tag as isshown in FIG. 18. In this way, it is possible to associate and storeanother person's identification tag which is the identification tag ofanother user in this service server, with an identification tag foridentifying a user within any one of a plurality of service servers, andfurthermore, it is possible to provide the gateway server device with afirst receiving part which receives a first other person identificationtag which is associated with a first identification tag and stored fromtransmission with a service server, from a first service server which isone service server which can associate an identification tag which canuniquely identify a user in a plurality of service servers and store anencryption key generated for each of these identification tags, a firststorage part which associates the first other person identification tagwhich is received by the first receiving part with an identifier of thefirst service server and stores in a temporary table, a second receivingpart which receives the second other person identification tag which isassociated and stored with a second identification tag which identifiesin the second service server a user identified by the firstidentification tag from a second service server which is another one ofthe plurality of service servers, a second storage part which associatesthe second other person identification tag received by the secondreceiving part with an identifier of the second service server andstores in the temporary table, and when it is judged in the transmissionthat the first other person identification tag received by the firstreceiving part is associated with first identification information and afirst encryption key and stored in the first service server, anidentification information part which sends the identificationinformation associated and stored with the first other person tag, andan encryption information receiving part which receives encryptioninformation which encrypts information which includes the identifier ofthe first service server from the first encryption key according to thefirst identification information sent from the identificationinformation sending part.

In this way, it is possible to include a first command part whichcommands to the first service server to send a first message to the useridentified from the first other person identification tag if anidentifier of the second service server is not included as a result ofdecrypting the received encryption information with the first encryptionkey.

In addition, it is possible to include in the first message informationfor a user identified by one of the other person identification tags tobe able to use the second service server.

In addition, it is possible to include a second command part in thegateway server device, the command part commanding the first serviceserver to send a second message to the user identified by the firstother person identification tag, when as a result of decrypting thereceived encrypted information with the first encryption key, anidentifier of the second service server is included and ifIdentification information which is associated and stored with the firstother person identification tag by the first service server, andidentification information which is associated and stored with the firstother person identification tag by the second service server, isdifferent

In this way, it is possible to include information in the second messagefor associating the second other person identification tag with thesecond identification tag in the second service server to a useridentified by one of the first other person identification tags.

In addition, the gateway service device can further include a screeninformation sending part sends screen information for displaying in afirst region characters or an image which represent a first other personidentification tag stored by the first storage part and for displayingin a second region which can be dragged to the first region charactersor an image which represents a second other person identification tagstored by the second storage part, a drag detection part which detectsthat characters or an image which represent the second other personidentification tag in the screen information sent by the screeninformation sending part has been dragged, and a judgment starting partwhich starts a judgment as to whether an identifier of the secondservice server is included as a result of decrypting the receivedencryption information with the encryption key when drag has beendetected by the drag detection part.

What is claimed is:
 1. A management server device which is capable ofcommunicating with a plurality of service servers, each of the pluralityof service servers being capable of associating an identification tagwhich identifies the user within the service server with anidentification tag of another user within the service server and storingthe identification tag which identifies the user and the identificationtag of another user, and further being capable of associating anencryption key for identification information, said each identificationinformation uniquely identifying a user between the plurality of serviceservers and storing the encryption key with the identificationinformation; comprising: a storage device which stores an identificationinformation of one user in a first column and encrypted information in asecond column, said encrypted information being obtained by encryptingan address of the user identified by the identification informationstored in the first column with the encryption key stored in one of theplurality of service servers, the encryption key being associated withthe identification information of the user stored in the first column.2. The management server device according to claim 1, wherein theencryption key is not stored.
 3. The management server device accordingto claim 1, wherein the service server is capable of associating andstoring an identification tag of another user of the service server withone identification tag.